Rebirth
by Phoenix089
Summary: He just needed to find his reason for existing - Set after the Huenco Mundo arc. UlquiHime one-shot


Another UlquiHime one-shot. This one was written around June 2010 ...

My thoughts behind this was a possible way for Ulquiorra to return - because I'm still firm in the belief that he should ... And I love playing with the scenario of him returning

This was also largely inspired by a picture from my favourite UlquiHime fanartist (The art can be found: here)

* * *

Darkness. That was the first impression he had, closely followed by the feeling that he was floating. How he knew he was floating, he couldn't decide, but neither did he feel as if it particularly mattered.

It could have been seconds, minutes, hours or days later that he wondered how it was he had a sense of self at all – and if he had a sense of self, that must mean he _was_ someone.

But who?

No sooner had he wondered, had he remembered. He was Ulquiorra Schiffer in this lifetime. Arrancar, and Fourth ranked Espada under Aizen.

Or at least he was, until a Shinigami turned Hollow defeated him without mercy – and Ulquiorra felt his mouth pull into a disgruntled frown as he recalled it. Though, he supposed his death wasn't a_ complete _irritation.

As he hovered in the darkness, the image behind his eyes wasn't one he was completely adverse to – a picture of someone he was _sure_ he knew, and he must know them, for as he looked at her distraught visage, one of her hands desperately reaching out toward him, he felt a warmth blossom within chest.

It occurred to Ulquiorra then that if he knew he had eyes, a mouth and he could feel his chest, didn't that imply he had a body also?

Experimentally, Ulquiorra shifted his fingers. He could feel them moving at his side, and he looked down at them curiously. He was sure they had broken into ashes – right as someone had reached out for his hand in fact.

Ulquiorra looked above him where he could see something resembling a six-petal flower, the bright green light capturing his attention completely, considering it was the only discernable light source in the darkness. He knew he could recognise that flower from somewhere, and the longer he looked at it, the more sure he was of that fact.

Sighing irritably, Ulquiorra righted himself so he was standing, his feet coming to rest on a sandy ground as he continued to stare at the hibiscus, his eyes narrowed with frustration.

He was sure that he was someone who didn't like not being able to understand, and as Ulquiorra stood there in the darkness, in which sandy-floors appeared out of nowhere, his eyes still trained on the flower, Ulquiorra realised he had absolutely no idea of where he might be.

It was most definitely not the human world, but neither was it Huenco Mundo. It didn't seem as if he were in Soul Society – for he was sure if he had been somehow purified (though he doubted it considering the way in which he died), the Shinigami would have surrounded him already. Where, then, was he?

After a few moments, Ulquiorra decided that perhaps he wasn't meant to know where he was. More importantly, why was he still himself?

General knowledge suggested that after a hollow dies, they're purified and sent to Seireitei... Otherwise, they're devoured by other hollows and their sense of self simply vanishes. As Ulquiorra was certain he was still Ulquiorra, he highly doubted the latter was the case.

Wherever he was, it was defying his sense of logic and the accepted rules of the world, and he couldn't help but suspect it had something to do with the flower in the sky – especially since the thing had grown larger and brighter as his self-awareness had grown. But the more he wondered about it, the more elusive the answer seemed.

With great reluctance, Ulquiorra closed his eyes, blocking out the sight of the hibiscus, and there she was again. The woman that had been reaching out to him – though, this time the image he saw was one where she seemed highly irritated, and Ulquiorra was mildly bemused to realise he found the look of anger endearing.

He couldn't recall the last time he'd considered something even _remotely_ endearing – on the contrary, for as long as he could remember, he viewed the world and everything around him a bother, something that was hardly worth his time. He just didn't care about any of it. He hadn't cared for the way the universe functioned, he hadn't even cared why _he_ existed.

It was perplexing, with his previous ideology in mind, that he should find this woman fascinating. What was it about her that had made her fascinating?

The images – were they memories? – began to move at a rapid pace as he pondered, shifting from a woman who was insecure and uncertain of herself, possessing strange powers, to a woman who was much more determined and certain of her abilities.

As the images flowed, Ulquiorra couldn't deny the sense of pleasure he felt in watching them – whoever this woman was, she'd _fascinated_ him. She was a mystery he hadn't been able to figure out, and one that he had grown increasingly determined _to_ figure out.

Ulquiorra almost cringed as he realised how much his day to day routine had centered around her near the end. He had a vague impression that he'd been ordered to watch over her by Aizen ... But, even if that were the case, it wasn't reason enough as to why he seemed to gravitate towards her.

With a sigh, Ulquiorra opened his eyes again. He could feel a name, or maybe an impression of a name, on his tongue. But, it fell just shy of revealing itself and Ulquiorra wondered why he felt it imperative he remember the name of the red haired woman who haunted his mind.

As he recalled the way she'd desperately reached out to him as he faded away, he was almost certain she'd been important to him – though, how that was the case, Ulquiorra wasn't sure. He was a hollow, and therefore heartless ... He wasn't supposed to be able to come to care for anything. Absently, Ulquiorra raised a hand to come to rest over his hollow hole.

He panicked when his fingertips brushed against firm skin, and in that moment of concern, Murcielago must have sensed danger, for his wings burst forth from his back.

"It's nothing, foolish spirit," Ulquiorra sighed, his hand still resting over the place his hollow hole had been. That was ... confusing to say the least. He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't had a hollow hole.

A sudden _thunk_ turned Ulquiorra's attention to his feet, and he looked at the bone-white thing there curiously, before a few more chunks fell and he realised it was the horn of his mask. His mask was deteriorating.

"Murcielago ... What's the meaning of this?" Ulquiorra asked, a trace of panic in his voice.

_Beats me_, the bat-spirit of his sword retorted, and Ulquiorra bristled at the lack of concern in his voice. _But that glowing flower is seriously starting to weird me out_.

Curiously, Ulquiorra looked up at the flower, only to realise it was no longer hovering high above his head. Instead, it seemed as though the flower had taken on a life of it's own and it now floated at eye level before him.

As the glowing green hibiscus hovered, a voice whispered out of it, "Ulquiorra", and the voice that echoed around the darkness – or maybe it was in Ulquiorra's mind – had the Ex-Hollow's eyes widen with shock, and the word he'd been searching for fell from his lips without his realising it.

"Woman," he breathed, a hand raising of it's own accord, wanting to take hold of the hibiscus that represented Inoue Orihime's Shun Shun Rikka.

Of course. How could he have forgotten? That Woman had turned his world upside down and forced him to question everything he'd thought, question his very belief of the world, and in doing so ... Become the new focus of his being.

Ulquiorra's black-painted nails scratched against the hibiscus before he instinctually withdrew the hand to cover his number 4 tattoo – the thing was burning!

Gritting his teeth against the pain, Ulquiorra looked down at the mark which made him Aizen's, his eyes looking at the number with intense loathing. Even to the end, it seemed Aizen would not allow him to break free easily. His wings flapped agitatedly behind him, and for a moment Ulquiorra wondered if he was going to burn up, or break into his second release from the pain.

And then a feeling beneath his fingers broke through every other emotion he'd felt and it seemed as though time had come to a stand still.

_Bmp-Bmp. Bmp-Bmp. Bmp-Bmp._

He could feel it there, beneath his flesh. The definite thumping of a ...

"Heart?" Ulquiorra whispered, his voice thick with numerous emotions – confusion, shock, disbelief, wonder.

How? How was that possible? He was a hollow! Hollow's lost their hearts! How was it possible that ...

Forcing himself to take a calming breath, Ulquiorra listened to the beat beneath his fingers. No matter the how, or why, the fact was he had a heart. Somehow. It completely defied logic, defied the truth of the world. But it was there, just as he was still alive.

Now that the shock was fading, Ulquiorra noticed something had changed – something other than the inexplicable presence of a beating organ in his chest. The four tattoo was no longer present.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Ulquiorra withdrew his hand – frustrated with the way the appendage shook as he moved it – and examined the new mark there, a harsh breath of disbelief hissing through his teeth.

The glowing green of the hibiscus in the darkness was gone, instead ... the flower was imprinted on his chest, typically above where his newborn heart resided.

That which marked him Aizen's, had been replaced with the flower of the Woman who had changed his world. And as Ulquiorra looked down at the mark, a slight smile curled his lips.

And with that, he realised it was time to break out of this darkness. It was time for him to return.

Orihime gasped and sat upright in her bed, his chest heaving with every breath she took, her eyes wide as she looked around the still dark room. A sob wrenched itself up her throat before she could control it.

Taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself, Orihime covered her face with her hands, fighting off the want to cry.

It wasn't as though this had been the first time she'd dreamt of him – as the months had passed, there had hardly been a night where she _hadn't_ dreamt of him. Whether it was of those final moments, or where her dearest wish came true and he re-materialised in Huenco Mundo. She'd never dreamt of his actual restoration, however. And seeing that had really shaken her.

Deciding she needed a glass of water, Orihime slipped out of her bed and wandered to the kitchen, her breath still leaving her in ragged pants. It had seemed so much _realer_ than her previous dreams. She'd always known it was a dream as she watched, this time however ...

Orihime's hand shook as she took a glass out of the pantry and held it under the faucet. _Smile, smile_, she tried to tell herself. She had to find a way to return to the delusion that everything was alright and –

The glass slipped from her hand and shattered on the floor as Orihime turned around to see him standing there in her lounge room

"Great, just brilliant!" she snapped, closing her eyes and wishing the hallucination away. This was the _last_ thing she needed. Ishida-kun had just been injured, there were mysterious people hunting her, Sado, and Ishida for being human's with powers, and here she was _hallucinating_ about someone who'd faded to ash!

Breathing deeply, she opened her eyes again and was irrationally infuriated as she realised he was still standing there, his hands in his pockets as he looked around the room with an air of curiosity.

"Surprisingly, it's tidy. I hadn't thought you'd be the cleanly type."

Orihime couldn't hold back a hysterical laugh as she listened to the hallucination's words, and the illusion-Ulquiorra looked at her as though he were concerned about her sanity.

Seconds later, Orihime passed out.

As she opened her eyes, Orihime frowned profusely. What a stupid dream to have! Ulquiorra reviving and then showing up in her apartment? She knew full well by now _that _wasn't about to happen.

With a sigh, she looked over to the window, frustrated by the streak of water she felt slide from her eye. She couldn't deny she wanted it to happen though, even if logic said it wasn't going to. God's how she _wanted _it.

She completely froze as she heard someone speak, "You're awake then?"

With trepidation, Orihime turned her head so that she was looking to the door of her room, glad she was still lying down as her heart beat frantically beneath her pyjama top – she almost wished she hadn't worn the green shirt with the bat on it now.

Ulquiorra stood there, one hand resting on the door frame as he peered in, his other hand – as always – in the pocket of his Hakama pants. His eyebrow was quirked curiously as he stared over at her.

Slowly, Orihime rose to her feet. She could feel she was unsteady on them, especially since her foot was tangled in the sheets, but she could hardly bring herself to care. Her mind was completely overtaken by the shock of seeing Ulquiorra in her doorway.

And then she realised that she needed to touch him. Needed to assure herself that he really was there – _if_ he really was there. She almost stumbled, but she managed to right herself and run over to him.

Ulquiorra's eyes were wary, evidently recalling the last time she'd run at him the way she was now, she'd slapped him with every bit of strength she had. Orihime couldn't bring herself to care though, she simply threw her arms around his neck – and, under different circumstances, she might have laughed at the way he was the perfect size for her to hug, her cheek coming to rest against the side of his easily. Like two puzzle pieces fitting together.

It was clear that Ulquiorra wasn't expecting her arms to fasten around him the way they did, just as he wasn't expecting Orihime to suddenly break down into sobs of relief. Nevertheless, Orihime smiled as she felt a hand come to rest on the small of her back cautiously.

After several attempts, Orihime managed to calm herself down enough to ask the question she'd wanted to since she first saw him standing there in her door. "Is – Is it really you?"

Ulquiorra scoffed at the question, "What a foolish question. Who else would it be?"

Orihime's lips curled into the first genuine smile she'd worn since her return from Huenco Mundo. Stepping back out of the sudden embrace, she turned her back to Ulquiorra and wiped the stray tears from her eyes.

As she turned to face him once more, Orihime couldn't contain the feeling of joy that was bubbling up within her. Now that she wasn't so shocked at his appearance though, she realised he was missing his mask – he looked good without it though – and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as she took in the fact that his jacket were pulled down low enough to reveal his collarbone, and the unmarred flesh there.

"Your ... hole...?" she gasped, stepping towards him again, her hand tracing over the flawless skin with wonder.

With a barely discernable sigh, Ulquiorra took hold of her hand, looking at her black fingernails curiously, and moved it so that it rested above the left hand side of his chest.

Orihime wasn't sure what to expect as he took hold of her hand, but she certainly hadn't been anticipating the thrum she could feel beneath her fingers, and the feeling brought tears to her eyes once more.

"Oh, Ulquiorra," she whispered, withdrawing her hand to cover her mouth with shock, her eyes wide with awe. "I'm so – this is so – Oh gods." Orihime fell back down onto the futon, her imagination running a million miles an hour, imagining Ulquiorra working at her bakery, envisioning him as a CIO of some big company, of Ulquiorra having a _life_.

Taking deep breaths in order the hold off the tears of joy she felt welling up, she looked over to Ulquiorra and felt a flush of embarrassment as she realised he was staring at her in the same way he had before. Trying to ignore the heat, she asked, "So, what now?"

Ulquiorra shrugged at the question, hesitantly folding his legs so that he was sitting on the floor in front of Orihime. "I'll figure that out later. For now, I'm here."

The tears Orihime had been trying to hold back broke through, and she managed, "Yes. You are," through her sobs, Ulquiorra looking at her completely perplexed as she smiled up at him. But, he decided, this was precisely why he'd come back. To further understand the Woman, and the gift she'd given him.

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Hee~ I really do love reunion fics too.

I hope you liked this one~ =DD


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